


Traditions

by ThatOneAwkwardFangirl_Liz_Cecil



Series: March Prompts 2019 [4]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: (like most tsukkiyama fics have), Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Cruise Ship, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Anyways here's the slow burn fic, Awkward Tsukishima Kei, Childhood Friends, De-Aged Characters, Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, I know that's a weird one but listen, I needed a Nekoma third year who I didn't ship with anyone else, M/M, Meeting Once A Year, Past Kai Nobuyuki/Yamaguchi Tadashi, Past Kuroo Tetsurou/Tsukishima Kei, Slow Burn, Yamaguchi Tadashi's Freckles, and fall in love, become best friends, enjoy, moments in time, where tsukki and yama see each other once every year for ten years
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-26
Updated: 2019-03-26
Packaged: 2019-12-18 12:57:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18250301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatOneAwkwardFangirl_Liz_Cecil/pseuds/ThatOneAwkwardFangirl_Liz_Cecil
Summary: Prompt: Every single year, my family and I go on this cruise that your family is always on and wow you are way hotter than I remember-Kei was gaping, open-mouthed and everything, like a fucking idiot, because Yamaguchi had always been pretty, but this year he was prettier, and if he didn’t stop staring, he was going to do something even stupider, like kiss him.





	Traditions

**Author's Note:**

> I'm TsukkiYama trash and a sucker for slow-burning childhood friendships. Enjoy, my loves

Kei wasn’t the biggest fan of family vacations.

At the young age of eight years old, he had decided that he didn’t like other kids very much. They were annoying and loud and gross, and he just didn’t want to talk to them. He liked music, though, and dinosaurs. Maybe if his family took vacations to museums with dinosaur bones, he would like them.

Instead, they went camping. Well, except, not this year. _This year_ , they were going on some family cruise, because apparently it was a big deal. Aki-nii seemed excited, so Kei tried to be, too. After all, nii-san was super cool, and he wouldn’t like something if it was lame, right?

Ah, probably not?

So, Kei boarded the cruise ship with his family, more or less without complaint. They looked at the activities, and then Kei glued himself to his brother’s side, because he didn’t want to get lost or have to talk to one of the other kids.

Except, nii-san liked to hang out with the older kids, and Kei really didn’t, so he wandered, just a little. He knew where his parents were, worst case scenario. It was fine, really, until:

“What’s the matter, _Freckles_ , scared that you lost your mommy?”

Right. This was why he hated kids his age.

Three tall-ish boys surrounded one tiny one, with messy brown hair and a face dotted with freckles. Kei didn’t know _why_ they were trying to beat him up, just that they were, and that was stupid. Even Kei, who wasn’t the _nicest_ would never pick on someone just for kicks. That was lame.

So, he told them so. “Lame.”

All four boys froze and looked up at him. He was tall for his age, he knew, and they all seemed a little afraid – well, except the freckled boy, who just looked thankful. Not that Kei was really trying to save him or anything.

“Whatever, four-eyes!” another kid shouted.

Kei rolled his eyes and pushed up his glasses. _Please_ , like he hadn’t heard that one before.

He turned to walk away, but after a second or two, he was no longer walking alone.

“Th-thank you!” came a squeaky voice beside him. “My name is Yamaguchi Tadashi!”

Kei stared blankly for a second. This was not his plan. “Uh, hi. I’m Tsukishima Kei.”

“I lost my parents, and I don’t really know how to navigate the ship,” Yamaguchi admitted, his eyes down.

Before he could think about the words, Kei offered, “Can I help you find them?”

Yamaguchi lit up. “Yes! Thank you so much, Tsukishima-kun!”

So, Kei helped him find his parents.

 

“It’s a _tradition_ , Kei,” ka-san insisted as they loaded up their suitcases.

“One year doesn’t make it a tradition,” Kei argued, pulling on his headphones. Nine years old, and he was pretty sure he liked people even less than the year before.

“Come on,” she sighed. “Nii-san is starting high school this year! It’s even more important that we bond as a family, okay?”

“Tch.” He turned on his music and stared out the car window. He really didn’t want to do this again.

But nii-san was excited, and he claimed that it was a lot of fun last year, and there’s going to be even more stuff to do this year. He insisted that Kei at least try to seem excited, so Kei tried. You know, for Akiteru-nii. Because he was still really cool, and he didn’t like uncool things, which meant Kei should try to enjoy himself.

As soon as he stepped onto the ship, a vaguely familiar voice gasped, “ _Tsukishima-kun_!!!”

He jumped, and both he and Akiteru turned to the voice. Even to-san glanced behind him, just to be sure.

Kei frowned; he knew this kid. Definitely knew this kid. He just had to think. _Freckles, tiny, messy brown hair…_

“Yamaguchi-kun?”

Yamaguchi beamed up at him. “You remembered me! I wasn’t sure if you would after a year!”

But Kei had thought about Yamaguchi a few times in the last year, because they were friends, and Kei didn’t have friends before Yamaguchi.

“You remembered me too,” Kei pointed out, “so I don’t see what the big deal is.”

For some reason, that just made Yamaguchi smile brighter. “Do you wanna check out the arcade with me?!”

“It’s okay, Kei,” ka-san said before he even asked. “Go play with your friend.”

“Alright,” Kei said. He wondered just how long he had before Yamaguchi stopped liking him, like the other kids.

 

“Hey, Tsukishima-kun?”

They were ten, now, and everything felt a little more serious now that they were in the double-digits. It was the third time Kei met Yamaguchi.

“Yeah?” Kei turned to Yamaguchi where they sat together on the ship deck. It was late, and the stars were painting the sky. He knew he should get back, but he didn’t want to.

“Do you think we’ll do this every year, forever?”

Kei frowned. “That’s impossible to know, Yamaguchi-kun.”

“Well, I’m just saying,” Yamaguchi muttered, twisting his shirt around his fingers. “I don’t really have any other friends at home. So, it’s always really nice to see you.”

“Are we friends?” Kei asked. He tried to sound like he didn’t care, but he did. He didn’t have friends at home either, and Aki-nii really got on his case about it.

“I think so,” Yamaguchi decided. “So, I guess I can drop the _-kun_ , now, right, Tsukishima?”

“Sure, Yamaguchi.”

“Do you have a lot of friends back home? I bet you do! You’re so cool.”

Kei considered lying, but there wasn’t much use in it. “No. Kids don’t like me, and I don’t like them either.”

“But you like me?” Yamaguchi sounded genuinely surprised.

“We’re friends, aren’t we?” Kei said in place of a _yes, of course I do._

Yamaguchi smiled one of the bright smiles that Kei had gotten used to, and Kei almost smiled back. Almost.

 

Kei turned eleven, and Aki-nii wasn’t cool anymore.

He was actually kind of lame. Super lame. Who lies about their position on a volleyball team anyways? Stupid.

But this year, Kei wanted more than anything to go to on this cruise. He was really hoping that Yamaguchi would be there. Yamaguchi was cool, in ways that nii-san could never dream of being.

“You seem excited,” ka-san noted as they boarded the ship. “Is Tadashi-kun meeting up with you again?”

“I think so,” Kei said. “I hope so. I’ll feel stupid if I came so willingly just for him not to show up.”

Ka-san laughed and ruffled his hair. “He’s right over there, sweetie.”

“Yamaguchi!” he called out, and then he felt stupid anyways. He didn’t call out for people; that was embarrassing and kind of lame.

“Tsukishima!”

Yamaguchi ran at him, and he only had a couple seconds to brace himself before he got an armful of Yamaguchi Tadashi.

“Hi,” Kei said for lack of a better greeting.

“Hi! I’m so hungry! Do you wanna find food with me?”

“Go on,” to-san said. “We’ll see you later.”

“Why are years so long?” Yamaguchi whined, latching onto Kei’s hand as they walked. “I hate how boring everyone else is. I missed you a lot, Tsukishima!”

Kei kind of wanted to tell him to shut up and stop being embarrassing, but he also still wanted him to like him, so he said, “I – um – me too.”

Yamaguchi beamed at him, like so many times in the years before. “I think you might be my best friend!”

And Kei didn’t argue, because he already knew that. After all, wasn’t your only friend your best friend by default?

 

“What do you mean, we might not go?”

Kei was twelve, and Akiteru-nii had just graduated high school.

“There’s just so much to do for nii-san going to college,” ka-san explained.

“What about Yamaguchi?” Kei said, waving his arms like that was enough reason. “I can’t leave him alone!”

“His family will be there, Kei,” to-san offered.

“No! I mean, yes, but – you don’t get it! Neither of us have any other friends! If I don’t show up, he’ll be sad! And I’ll be sad!”

“We should go.” It was the first time that Akiteru expressed an opinion on the matter. “If it’s important to him, we should go. Kei doesn’t make friends easily, and this is big. So, we should go.”

Kei glared at him – he totally had this handled alone – but his parents seemed to be listening this time.

“Alright,” ka-san sighed. “Then, we’ll go.”

 

At thirteen, Kei still didn’t have other friends, and neither did Yamaguchi. Junior high kids were cruel, and the first year was basically torture. But the Tsukishimas and Yamaguchis made this trip every year still, so at least they had each other.

“Your brother didn’t come this year,” Yamaguchi noticed, popping a stick of gum in his mouth. “How come?”

Kei shrugged. “He didn’t want to. I don’t care. He’s kinda lame lately.”

“It’s called being a grown-up, Tsukki,” Yamaguchi giggled. “I like Aki-nii. He’s nice, and he always bought me fries if I was hungry.”

“Tch, you and your fries,” Kei scoffed, but he smiled a little. It was almost cute, how excited Yamaguchi got for his favorite food.

“Well, anyways, how was your first year of junior high volleyball? Are you the best middle blocker?”

“I – um…” Kei frowned and scuffed the toe of his shoe on the floor. “I quit, after the first week.”

“Oh no, how come? I thought you liked volleyball?”

“It just really sucks when everyone hates you, and I’m not even that good.” He slumped back against the wall.

“Hm.” Yamaguchi leaned back next to him. “Well, maybe it would be more fun if you forgot about those guys, and just played to have fun! I bet you’re better than you give yourself credit.”

“I don’t know…”

Yamaguchi knocked their shoulders together and grinned. “You should try out again next year, Tsukki. Just to see! I bet you look super cool on the court!”

Kei felt his face get hot, and he looked away. “Shut up, Yamaguchi; you’re embarrassing.”

Yamaguchi laughed. “Sorry, Tsukki!”

 

By the next year, Kei was back on the volleyball team to stay. He didn’t love it, or even really enjoy it, but he didn’t want to disappoint his only friend. His parents seemed glad he was committing to a club, so that got them off his back. Really, it wasn’t all that bad.

“I can’t believe how tall you keep getting!” Yamaguchi gasped, jumping up and down. “So cool! How tall do you think you’ll end up being?”

“I don’t know,” Kei mumbled, scratching the back of his head. Fourteen, and compliments make him feel even weirder than they did the year before. “You got taller too.”

“Barely,” Yamaguchi whined. “I’m still tiny, and the other guys still beat me up. They’re so lame! Just because I’m shorter than them and smarter than them doesn’t mean they should be like that!”

Kei almost smiled. That was the closest Yamaguchi had ever been to sticking up for himself.

“Hey,” he said, “you wanna get something to eat? We can split an order of fries.”

Yamaguchi grinned, and wow, Kei had missed that smile in the last year.

“Yes! I love fries. You take such good care of me, Tsukki!”

“Tch, that’s a really embarrassing thing to say,” Kei muttered.

“Sorry, Tsukki!”

 

“ _Tsukki_!!!!!!”

Fifteen, and not much has changed. If Kei forgot to brace himself, Yamaguchi would probably send them both overboard with the velocity and strength of his hug-tackles.

He kind of screamed and jumped in surprise – not that he should be surprised. After seven years, their eighth meeting, this was practically routine. But a year made a guy forget sometimes.

And _what the fuck_ , did Yamaguchi get tall?

“Yamaguchi?” Kei asked, backing out of his arms, just to be sure. It was the same cute face, but they were nearly eye-level. “You finally grew?”

Yamaguchi blushed and sputtered. “Don’t say it like _that_! It was bound to happen eventually! Hey, Tsukki, I’m almost as tall as you now!”

“But you aren’t yet,” Kei pointed out, pretending like it meant nothing. It meant a lot, but he wasn’t fully sure why.

“Did you get new glasses?”

“Huh?” Kei thought about that, then remembered: “Oh, yeah, I guess they’re new. I got them after the cruise last year.”

“Oh, so cool! They look really good on you!”

It was Kei’s turn to blush and sputter. “You’re still embarrassing.”

“Sorry, Tsukki! Hey, are you excited to start high school? Where’re you going?”

“I’m going to Karasuno,” Kei replied. “I guess I’ll probably join the volleyball team or whatever.”

“So cool! I got accepted at Nohebi Academy. I think they have an okay volleyball team, but I’m no good at sports. I’ll probably just stick to other stuff.”

“I don’t think I’ve heard of them.”

Yamaguchi shrugged. “Well, I don’t think they’ve ever gone to Nationals or anything. I don’t really know, though.”

“I think Karasuno used to be good, back when nii-san went there.”

“Right, didn’t they have the Little Giant?!” Yamaguchi remembered, eyes wide in awe.

Kei frowned. “The brat who beat out my brother for the spot of ace, yeah.”

“O-oh, sorry, I forgot that part.” Yamaguchi really looked sorry, too.

“Forget about it. It’s been a long time, right? Hey, let’s go play games in the arcade, okay?”

 

The first year of high school was nothing impressive, which Kei informed Yamaguchi of quite adamantly. If he hadn’t gotten good at volleyball, he definitely would’ve quit again.

“Did you have any girlfriends this year?” Yamaguchi asked, and it was a perfectly innocent question. They were sixteen now, after all, and a lot of people were dating.

“No,” Kei replied, technically true. He glanced at his phone lock screen, a selfie with Tetsurou, and hoped Yamaguchi wasn’t one of those homophobic types.

“Me neither,” Yamaguchi sighed, leaning back on his chair. “But I joined a music club, and I’m actually good at it!”

“I have a boyfriend,” Kei blurted out, then covered his face with his hands. That was lame, super lame.

“Oh.” Yamaguchi just smiled and patted his arm. “Me too. His name is Kai, and he’s a couple years older. He went to Nekoma, and played volleyball – vice-captain!”

Kei blinked. He knew Kai. Obviously, he knew Kai, because Kai and Tetsurou were good friends. How could they be so close, yet so far?

“I’m dating the old Nekoma captain,” Kei muttered. “Kuroo Tetsurou. Really annoying, stupid hair, but also…smart. I guess. Whatever.”

“Small world,” Yamaguchi noted. “How did you guys meet?”

“Volleyball training camps.”

“Cool!” Yamaguchi shook his head. “It’s just like you to not know a single nice thing to say about your own boyfriend. I bet you’re a total tsundere, Tsukki.”

“Wha–? No, I’m not! Shut up, Yamaguchi!”

“Sorry, Tsukki.”

“Tetsurou has a lot of…redeeming qualities,” Kei tried, but it still sounded fake. He really liked his boyfriend, but…he also knew it wasn’t built to last.

“Oh yeah? Like what?” Yamaguchi laughed.

“He’s – uh – really good at kissing.”

“You’re ridiculous, Tsukki.” Yamaguchi ate a fry from their shared order. “Kai is sweet, and caring, and passionate, and gentle, and–”

Kei gagged. “At least I’m not _that_ boyfriend.”

“What’s that supposed to mean!”

“I bet you’re always talking about him, and it’s always that mushy, romantic shit too.”

Yamaguchi pouted, and it was kind of cute. Kei hated himself for noticing. “Whatever! I bet I can go longer without talking about Kai than you can about Kuroo-san!”

“As if!”

Neither of them mentioned their boyfriends for the rest of the trip.

 

Long-distance relationships were hard and sucked, and at seventeen, Kei knew. He broke up with Tetsurou not long after the schoolyear started. They were still friends, but Kei was pretty sure that he was dating Kenma now, so he felt a little bitter.

Yamaguchi was the one to bring up how bad long-distance sucked, though.

“So, Tsukki,” he said, wiping away whatever remained of post-breakup tears, “do you know what universities you want to try to get into next year?”

Kei shrugged, mostly indifferent. “I was looking at Sendai University.”

“That’s a good one,” Yamaguchi agreed. “Hey.”

“Yeah?”

“Can I apply to the schools you do, or would that be weird?”

Kei blinked. “Um, why would it be weird? Isn’t it nice to know you’ll be at school with your best friend?”

Yamaguchi smiled, looking relieved. “That’s the first time you’ve openly called me that, you know. It’s been like, almost ten years!”

“Shut up, Yamaguchi.”

Kei knew they could do the sensible thing and exchange numbers, but it felt like it would break some kind of rule. Like, unless they meet face-to-face, they weren’t supposed to talk.

He never really considered what it would mean, when the next year would likely be the last year. He didn’t really know what he’d do without this – seeing Yamaguchi every year like clockwork.

“But we should exchange emails, just to use when we get any acceptance letters,” Yamaguchi insisted. “Then, we can share an apartment, okay?”

The idea of that relieved just about any nerve Kei had about university coming up. “Okay.”

 

_From: Yamaguchi Tadashi_

_To: Tsukishima Kei_

_Subject: Apartment Hunting?_

_Hey, Tsukki!!!!_ _🌸_ _I found some apartment listings in Sendai! I was thinking, why don’t we look, the Saturday we come back from the cruise? I know your parents are stressed about us finding a house, LOL! What do you say?_

_From: Tsukishima Kei_

_To: Yamaguchi Tadashi_

_Subject: RE: Apartment Hunting?_

_Sounds good. Let’s plan on that._

 

Eighteen, and things couldn’t have been more perfect. Kei was finally, _finally_ out of high school, and he was going to get to see his best friend on a regular basis. Maybe he wouldn’t be so angry all the time with that impossible ray of freckled sunshine always around.

He looked around the ship, frowning when he didn’t find Yamaguchi in the usual spot. Except, hang on…

“Ah, Tsukki! There you are!”

He got an armful of hot-and-unfamiliar-man, man-that-smells-very-good, and he was about to go into some kind of gay crisis mode. Especially when the man pulled back, proving to indeed be Yamaguchi Tadashi.

Kei’s mouth went dry, face hot, eyes wide. “Yamaguchi?”

There was no way, no freaking way, that this was the same boy who he scared bullies away from ten years ago. No. That was impossible.

Because _this_ Yamaguchi Tadashi has two piercings on each ear, and his long hair was somewhat cooperating – at least, cooperating enough for a ponytail. And he had a guitar case on his back, his skinny jeans were ripped, and he was wearing a flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up. There were peaks of tattoos on his left forearm, and Kei was going to scream.

See, Kei didn’t date anyone after Tetsurou, and he was very close to grabbing Yamaguchi and taking him to any abandoned hall and begging him to make out, or just, let Kei stare.

Wait, Kei was already staring. _Say something, stupid._

“Hi.” Yeah, that was safe.

“Oh, Tsukki, your face is all red.” Yamaguchi pouted, and god, it was even cuter than it was in the years before. “Are you feeling okay? We can stay in this year if you need. I’ll take good care of you!”

_Please do,_ he almost said, but didn’t, because Kei was an adult and he had self-control!

“I’m – um – I’m fine! Just warm. A little bit hot, you know? I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“We should stargaze tonight, like we did that one year? I think we were eleven?”

Kei nodded, his throat like sandpaper. “Yeah.”

 

A perk of adulthood was that Kei could stay out late without his parents really worrying too much. He could stay here, stargazing with Yamaguchi for as long as he wanted.

Except, Kei wasn’t stargazing so much as Yamaguchi-gazing, while Yamaguchi stargazed.

Yamaguchi was really pretty in the moonlight, and his freckles kind of resembled the constellations. Had they always done that?

Well, yeah. He even kind of noticed it when they were kids, but it never meant anything before. And maybe he’d had a crush on Yamaguchi for a long time, but it never filled his stomach with this sort of longing before. And before he knew it, he was reaching out, brushing a piece of hair behind Yamaguchi’s ear.

Yamaguchi startled, and Kei pulled back his hand like he’d touched fire. There was certainly an unspoken rule about that.

“I – I don’t know what I was – just – I mean – I’ve – um?” he stammered intelligently.

Yamaguchi just smiled at him. “Hey, can I play you a song I learned?”

Kei nodded, desperate for a reason to shut up.

Yamaguchi pulled out the guitar. He’d been lugging it around all day, and Kei had a feeling he regarded it like an extra limb. He knew Yamaguchi liked making music as much as Kei liked listening.

That sort of made them a perfect fit.

Yamaguchi just played, no singing, but there was a lot of emotion in it regardless. And he was good. Kei was gaping, open-mouthed and everything, like a fucking idiot, because Yamaguchi had always been pretty, but this year he was prettier, and if he didn’t stop staring, he was going to do something even stupider, like kiss him.

When the song was over, Yamaguchi glanced over at him and smiled. “What do you think?”

“I love you,” Kei said, and it just fell out of his mouth before he could stop. “I mean – good, it was – you’re good at that! I’m sorry, I don’t know why I’m–”

“Shut up, Tsukki.” But there was only amusement in Yamaguchi’s eyes.

“Sorry, Tadashi.” Kei bit his lip and looked away. “I don’t know why I just said that out of fuck all nowhere.”

Yamaguchi laughed. “It wasn’t out of nowhere. It’s kinda been building up for ten years, don’t you think? I mean, why do you think we’re planning to live together, Kei?”

“I – I never thought about it much,” Kei admitted. “I didn’t think you’d like me.”

Yamaguchi snorted. “Ah, yeah, right, because I beg my parents to take me on a lame cruise every year because I like the ocean so fucking much. Get real.” He ruffled Kei’s hair and gave him a gentle shove. “So, I’ve been thinking about this since we were fourteen, okay?”

“Okay?”

“You should kiss me.”

Kei blinked and let that sink in, just to be sure he heard right.

Yamaguchi cleared his throat. “Preferably before next year’s cruise, Tsukki.”

“Right!”

And when he did, he felt grateful that they were moving in together after all this, because it meant that he was going to get to do this a lot more often.

Kei’s lips against Tadashi’s, stars twinkling overhead, and this was how it was meant to be. Not that Kei believed in “meant to be”, but if anything was…

It was this.

 

They were twenty-eight, and it was the first year since university that they could afford to go on the cruise together. But this year, they were going again, and Kei wouldn’t have it anything other way.

See, he was asking Yamaguchi to marry him this year, and if he was lucky, he might get a lifetime of new traditions with him.

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on [Twitter](https://www.twitter.com/awkwardfangirl6) and scream with me about Haikyuu!! and other shit


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